"I throw strikes at 140 km, but you who throw 150 km..."
The professional baseball team Hanwha Eagles escaped a six-game losing streak on the 18th with a convincing 5-0 win over Lotte at Sajik. Ryu Hyun-jin, who returned after a full 10 days of rest, delivered a perfect outing, pitching seven innings, allowing four hits, no walks, striking out three and allowing no runs, leading the team out of the losing streak.
During the losing streak, Hanwha repeatedly produced poor performances. In particular, during the three-game home series against Samsung in the middle of the week, they showed a performance in front of Daejeon home fans that left them speechless. In the game on the 14th, they surrendered 18 walks, the most in a single game in KBO League history. At that time, the opposing team Samsung won the comeback without ever swinging the bat.
The next day on the 15th, No. 1 starter Wilkel Hernandez was shockingly pulled after 1/3 of an inning, allowing seven hits, two walks, one strikeout and seven runs. The team atmosphere could not have been good.
But ace Ryu Hyun-jin gathered the team and also delivered a rebuke. With a senior's word, Hanwha began to wake up again. And by leading by example, he personally guided the end of the losing streak. That day Ryu Hyun-jin's top speed was recorded at 149 km/h. Based on that fastball, he neutralized Lotte batters by throwing 19 changeups, 10 cutters, 10 curveballs and five sweepers, the new weapon he added.
After the game, Ryu Hyun-jin said, "After resting for 10 days I had strength. So throwing the fastball and going after quick decisions seemed to be the reason I was able to throw with a low pitch count until the seventh inning."
Ryu Hyun-jin also reflected on recent performance. He explained, "It seems players haven't shown game-like performances lately. So today I tried not to show that kind of play, focused from the first inning, and with early scoring I was able to concentrate in a somewhat more comfortable state."
He also sent a message to the players. He said, "I kept telling the players, 'I throw a 140 km fastball and can get a strike, so why can't you, who throw 150 km, attack the zone? I hope you attack the strike zone well.'" There are many players whose actual pitch power exceeds Ryu Hyun-jin, including Kim Seo-hyeon, Cho Dong-uk, Hwang Jun-seo and Park Sang-won. Yet Ryu Hyun-jin is getting the best results. Pitchers should stand confidently on the mound like Ryu Hyun-jin, but the younger pitchers did not. That was the image Ryu Hyun-jin directly demanded.
In any case, the six-game losing streak is over. Ryu Hyun-jin awakened the entire Hanwha team. Now he vows only to go up from here. Ryu Hyun-jin emphasized, "It is true that the team atmosphere had sagged. As pitchers fell apart, position players' concentration also dropped. Everyone empathized during the losing streak," and added, "It's early in the season now, and before the six-game losing streak things were so good that I tried to be bright at the ballpark, and I think today's game will be a trigger to move into a good atmosphere."
Last year Hanwha finished second in the regular season and reached the Korean Series. When everyone said it was hard, they proved it with results. It's the same this year. Ryu Hyun-jin explained and also directly showed that Hanwha has room to rise further.
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